ITV’s 4-part true crime drama, I Fought The Law, tells the story of one mother’s 15-year campaign to bring her daughter’s killer to justice.
Julie Hogg went missing on November 16, 1989, at the age of 22. A forensic investigation of her home returned no evidence of wrongdoing, and police suggested she must’ve left of her own accord.
Julie’s mother, Ann Ming, refused to believe this was true. The pair were very close and spoke every day. Julie was also a devoted mother to three-year-old son, Kevin, and Ann knew she’d never leave him of her own accord.
On February 5, 1990, Ann visited Julie’s house to help her husband, Andrew, locate the source of a strong smell coming from the bathroom. Andrew and Julie were separated, but in her absence, he’d returned to the family home.
Removing a bathroom panel to see if she could unearth the source of the smell, Ann devastatingly discovered Julie’s body wrapped in a blanket. Police investigations led them to a neighbour and former boyfriend of Julie’s, William ‘Billy’ Dunlop.
While it took Ann 15 years to get Dunlop convicted of her daughter’s murder, he was eventually found guilty – but where is he now?
Where is William Dunlop now?
William Dunlop currently remains in prison for his crimes. However, in April 2025, he was almost transferred to an open prison, leading to more campaigning from Julie’s family to keep him in a secure facility.
While police initially found evidence that Dunlop had murdered Julie – her house key was found under a floorboard in her home, and his hair on her body – during his initial 1991 trial, the jury failed to reach a verdict.
During his second trial, the jury could not reach a verdict yet again, leaving the judge no choice but to acquit Dunlop.
He was later imprisoned in 1997 for viciously attacking a former girlfriend, and while in prison made a recorded confession to police for murdering Julie. However, because of the double jeopardy law at the time, he could not be tried again for the same crime.
Ann Ming, driven by grief and the injustice of Julie’s killer not being convicted, set out to overturn the laws surrounding double jeopardy – and it took her 15 years.
(Image credit: PA/Alamy)
On April 4, 2005, after fighting the law for 15 years, the double jeopardy law ended in England and Wales as Part 10 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 – all because of Ann’s relentless campaign.
With new laws allowing retrials when new and compelling evidence arose for serious offences, William Dunlop was retried. He was the first offender to have a retrial under the new laws and was convicted on October 6, 2006.
He was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 17 years – one year for every year Julie’s killing went unavenged.
However, following a parole hearing in December 2024, the Parole Board recommended Dunlop should be moved to an open prison, suggesting his risk level was reduced following “sufficient progress” made in rehabilitation.
Ann once again jumped into action to attempt to prevent this move from happening. Speaking to the BBC outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Ann suggested Dunlop remained a ”violent individual.”
She said, “We as a family are doing a life sentence, we are living and breathing what he did until the day I die. No parole, a life sentence.”
She suggested the Parole Board and judges should “listen more to the victims’ families,” adding, “It’s horrible, you feel as though the prisoner is pulling the strings every step of the way.”
The move to an open prison has since been rejected, and William Dunlop remains in a secure facility.
I Fought The Law will air on ITV and STV and be available to stream on ITV X and STV Player from Sunday 31 August, followed by I Fought The Law: The Ann Ming Story documentary.
